Head of Mormon Church Summoned to Appear in Court in London

[Stavros]

I agree with most of the above sentiments, that no matter how absurd some of the claims made by religion sound, where people choose to believe and are not forced into behaving in an illegal way or being forced to part company with money, the judgement is moral rather than legal. I think that religion is open to prosecution when its institutions break the law, be it financial. or in the case of the Roman Catholic Church, when its priests abuse children in their care, and while it may reflect badly on the Church it is hardly a meaningful attack on Christianity. I wonder, could a retired metal worker in Russia sue the Communist Party for not providing him with a worker's paradise?

[NYBURBS]

Yet, the law should be invoked to prevent pregnant women from aborting the tiny souls that have attached themselves to their fertilized eggs.

More seriously, it should perhaps be invoked to protect children from the miseducation they receive when home schooled by pious, anti-science parents. In the U.S. neither home schooling nor private schooling is subject to the mandates, regulation and testing required of public schools. The result is children who are even worse than the average American at mathematics, science, writing, geography and history.

Speaking of history, Joseph Smith really was a con man and his religion was a fraud. In 1844 there might have been a strong case for a suit. Instead he was lynched by an angry mob for burning down the town's newspaper.

When I see religious "leaders" like Pat Robertson performing miracles on TV and growing fat off the donations of the misled pious I always wonder, "Are they fooling themselves too, or are they just shrewd, cynical con artists through and through?"

I'll sidestep the abortion issue so as not to run astray. When it comes to adults, religion is a matter of what they choose to believe or think, and the government should have no place in that. As for children, while I might wish that less of them had to endure what I see as myth teachings, it still comes down to leaving parents the freedom to raise their own children. The alternative is that some other segment of society gets to decide what everyone has to think or believe, and that strikes me as being a form of extreme oppression.

Btw, I'd characterize Joseph Smith as a con-artist too; I just don't think it should be up to me, you, or anyone else to tell someone that they have to agree with that assessment.

[trish]

Yeah, we wouldn't want to live in a society where all children went to real schools and all schools were held to the same standards. We wouldn't want to live in a place where everyone was compelled to believe that 455/5 = 91 or to believe that Iraq and Iran are different countries.

[kittyKaiti]

Foreign government attempting to charge an American with a crime for their religious beliefs. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL. Monson should just pick up a good old American AR-15 and tell the Redcoat scum to come and get him. Just because England doesn't have a Bill of Rights, doesn't mean we don't either. It's called the 1st Amendment, which protects religious liberty. The United Kingdom can go fuck itself.

Additionally, this opens up a flood of BS foreign criminal prosecutions and suits against sovereign American citizens for a multitude of things that are "illegal" under the laws in said foreign countries. Imagine getting a summons to appear in Saudi court for being transsexual.

[trish]

Imagine being penned up in gitmo because a warlord was said you were a terrorist.

[buttslinger]

This Courtroom tried and hung Jamie Michelle for her religious beliefs, then again she wasn't summoned, and she didn't force her beliefs on anyone.
I remember my Catholic friend's Mom had nothing against homosexuals, but she didn't want them teaching her kids in school.
This was back when Catholic Priests were the most trustworthy babysitters you could find.

The Amish clashed with the government when they didn't want their kids going past eighth grade, because farmers don't need the DEVIL'S WORK that is High School. The Amish won in court.

[trish]

This Courtroom tried and hung Jamie Michelle for her religious beliefs, then again she wasn't summoned, and she didn't force her beliefs on anyone.
I remember my Catholic friend's Mom had nothing against homosexuals, but she didn't want them teaching her kids in school.
This was back when Catholic Priests were the most trustworthy babysitters you could find.

The Amish clashed with the government when they didn't want their kids going past eighth grade, because farmers don't need the DEVIL'S WORK that is High School. The Amish won in court.

You mean our Jamie Michelle and the Court of Hung Angels?

[buttslinger]

You mean our Jamie Michelle and the Court of Hung Angels?

Yes, the Hung Jury. haw haw.

[robertlouis]

Imagine being penned up in gitmo because a warlord was said you were a terrorist.

Or if you were dumb enough to have the same name and just happened to be on the wrong street....

[trish]

Yes, the Hung Jury. haw haw.

Good one. But just one correction. Jamie claims in every other post that the omega point theory and the existence of the Christian God follows with ironclad logic from the currently accepted laws of physics. That's not a religious claim. It's a claim about what conclusions strictly follow from the premises of general relativity and quantum field theory.